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Absolutely belter trip man! Plenty of times over the 2 days I could’ve never ridden a bike again but the fact I could send it with the boyes made it all worth it man!

So after a little while away from the machine (somewhat down to being back to work, also down to mh and lack of motivation), the need for something that I’d rather not buy and would rather make has got me motivated again.

Just something little, but I’m going camping with a few mates in the Peak District and needed some voile-esque straps to keep more things secure on my Saracen. I thought about buying some, but the thought of paying £8 for a strap that I can make in approx 2 minutes didn’t make sense to me. Managed to find a 20” piece of webbing that was probably scrap from one of my earlier projects so just tried piecing something together. Pretty happy with the outcome and they look pretty slick. Will load up my bike tomorrow and see how they go!

The idea of red trails on sweep back bars makes me lol! Bet the cantis made slowing down interesting

The sandals are iconic

These would be sick on any 26er if they weren’t EYE WATERINGLY expensive

Looks dead comfy! How do you find the oury grips??

Those Bikit ones seem legit. I like that they seem to have a slider section for a bit more adjustability!

The bottom mounts were the real worry for me! Great to know something like the PDW eyelets exist! Defo gonna invest!

So I took it for a bit of a spin today with my uncle on a little mixed surface route around the coast and on some of the waggonways. I initially intended on only going out for an hour and grabbing a coffee, but as the miles rolled by, the bike just kept asking for more. Ended up at a decent 26 miler, the only limits being I ran out of water by mile 15 and didn’t bring any spare food with me.

First things first, it isn’t exactly a whippet on the road, which wasn’t entirely unexpected. The tyres definitely aren’t the slowest I’ve ever ridden, but on gravel and singletrack, they absolutely kill. Even on some of the looser corners on some of the farm roads around, I had absolute confidence they wouldn’t slide out from under me. Tyre choice was a win I think, but we’ll what they’re like in the longer term.

Gearing wise, I haven’t even touched the bigger gears on my cassette. Even on some of the 10-12% climbs were absolutely no problem. The only issue I had when it came to climbing was that the bike had a bit of a tendency to wander when it got steeper. I’m not sure if that’s down to the fork being a little longer than the bike was designed for or just my body position, but it wasn’t too much of a problem, just something I wasn’t really used to.

Overall I’m actually so gassed with this bike so far. Want to give the wheels a bit of a true as I’ve had to run the back brake quite loose to allow clearance for the slight wobble, but other than that, it’s an absolute dream. Here’s to some more miles.

@Qebrus - I think it’s extremely easy to over plan and expect too much from a bike. For the purpose I want it for, it’s an absolute shredder.

@buttrockanthem @ectoplasmosis - cheers! Buzzing to make some improvements n get it flying!

It’s just a fork I picked up off of eBay! It’s a trials fork from the 00’s I think so has mounts for Vs and disc. No fender mounts though, so gonna have to find a solution to that

THE DAY HAS COME!

Saracen is rideable for the first time and I’m proper chuffed with the results! Gave it a quick ride around the country park and actually stunned at how good it feels straight away.

Dialling the gears in for the first time could’ve made me cry. For a reason unbeknown to me, the upper pulley wheel was catching on the cassette only half way up it. For a good hour, I sat and pondered my predicament over a brew with calls of my former self echoing around me. “This is why you always rode a track bike. I told you it would be like this” Post ponder, I read listed I was just being a dumbass and had the derailleur was on wrong. Hopefully next build with be less existential. I’d like to get a new wheel set built up so I can run the full 10 speeds but for what I need this bike for right now, it’s not the end of the world. The change between the 11t and the 16t is less than pretty after I removed the 13t to fit the cassette on the 7s hub, but again, it works for what I need right now.

One of my main worries with the build was that the 42t big cog on the cassette wouldn’t be small enough for fully loaded packing, but as soon as I rode it, those fears were dispelled. After spending around 2-3 years grinding up any climb I ever came across, spinning up the hardest climb I could find in a 2 mile radius with ease was a sobering moment for my knees.

For the future, I’m definitely going to invest in some decent fenders now I know I’ve got plenty of mud clearance. A big basket would also be a must to meet the criteria for my dream dad bike.

Hopefully going on a coffee run down the coast tomorrow so I can give it a full shred!

I now realise exactly why I stopped riding bikes with gears lol. All part of the process I guess. No pleasure without unbearable pain of impatience

Patience (or lack thereof) has always been what one might call a negative attribute of my personality, but I’m proud of myself for defying such feelings this week.

Been back to work this week so making the most of my time off to get the Saracen fully finished and riding for the nice weather next week! I’ve never cabled a bike or set up V brakes ever so I felt a little bit anxious about the whole process but I’ve found the only way I can learn to do things is by getting stuck in and having a go.

First on was the tyres. After a long long deliberation, the H Blocks beat all the other competition. The price was definitely one of the set backs because £30 a tyre to me is painful, but that being said, most of the tyres I was looking at were around that price so why can you do ¯_(ツ)_/¯

On the same note, I was a bit worried that 2.2” tyres wouldn’t leave enough space for fenders but I could probably fit 2.4” in the frame without fenders so I’m happy.

Sorted myself some Ergon grips for that Dad-bike aesthetic but also just wanted to try something new.

V brakes were relatively easy to set up once I got my head around the idea of spring tension to centre them. Wheels are a smidge untrue so I’m tempted to get them trued and tensioned at my LBS but that might be a project I have a go at.

Now onto the inevitable hurdle.. it seems as thought every time I try and work on this bike, there’s one thing that just doesn’t want to play ball. I researched derailleurs for weeks and came to the conclusion that a SRAM X9 would easily clear a 42t cassette. How very wrong I was. It may just be the fact I’m completely out of my depth when it comes to gears but I’ve bought a cheap extender on eBay to hopefully resolve that when it comes.

End of the day, I’m really proud of my skills of just putting a bike together out of bits and pieces.

@ricky2slicky - the big spoons is definitely worth the trip! Gravel around there is p awesome as well. There’s a few routes all the way from the coast across to Ponteland and onwards around there. The For Shreds definitely look the business just don’t agree with me.

@MisterMikkel - Great shout! Don’t have the clamping space I like about the Stooge bars but they look like a sweet option. Also torn on just chucking some drops on, but I’m running a MTB disc calliper so it might be tricky.

+1 for thumbies with sweep backs on the Marin! Can’t wait to see what you make of it. Also really rate the GRX on the Fort. How is 1x on a road setup?

Fizik on a fixed gear gravel bike to make the roadies weep..

Was pondering recently about what saddle I might want for the 26er and while I could’ve bought a cheapish Charge spoon like I’ve got on my Surly, I thought the Surly was due an upgrade.

Managed to pick myself up an Antares with a relief channel in it. Never ridden a saddle with a channel but I rode the same style of saddle for a while so I’m getting adventurous with it.

I’m sure I saw somewhere the other day that putting a Fizik saddle on a gravel bike is like mixing Adidas and Nike. The idea of such blasphemy made me froth at the mouth just a little.

(Saved 94 grams as well. Defo worth the money..)

I’m not sure abrasive tech is for anyone but been throwing down to this today

https://youtu.be/OF-bmUZ7cso

I’m sure any amounts of people over on RetroBike would pay good money for that. Beauty of a piece.

In regards to having a modernised mountain bike, Late 90s frames are definitely the age you’re looking for, the only modern standards they’re usually missing are disc brake mounts. I’ve got a Saracen from 95’ that I’m building up with the same aspirations atm

That is beyond cool!! I love that layered crown detailing at the top and bottom of the ST. I really rate the endless mounting points.

We might have to have some words @M_V

See if you can get some Camp and Go Slow cotton tape in combo with the nitto bars for the ultimate Radavist bait bike

Not much of late. Had a few designs for some frame bags and stuff drawn up for a while but lockdown fatigue caught up hard with it. Been intending on getting some more things made up for a while.

You’re gonna have to don a hockey helmet for that real X Men vibe! Can just see this ride being a velo orange copy before we know it lol

Even horrible bikes can be redeemed sometimes